Moldova's left behind children: Weighing the impact of parental emigration

• Autor(a) principal: Popescu, Cristina
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/18975
• topic: Emigration; Left behind children; Parental absence; Psycho-social impact; Education outcomes; Development; Family; Separation; Moldova; Sociologia da família; Emigração; Criança -- Child; Funções parentais; Impacto social; Educação; Desenvolvimento; Moldávia

Stuck between its Soviet past, while still navigating its relative independence, Moldova is still struggling today – it remains under the burden of a weak development and socio-economic crisis. Emigration has become normalized in the culture and many have labelled the country’s present situation as a “social tragedy". This mass emigration has increased the number of the Left Behind Children (LBCH). With this study, we propose to analyze the impact that parental emigration has on the LBCH in Moldova. We consider that both the literature and the clinical settings have been overlooking the damage that parental emigration causes on the family and on the LBCH. Generally, most studies focus on the benefits that emigration brings to the families, mainly through the remittances that are sent home by the emigrants. However, considering everything, the LBCH pay a much higher price for it. Further research is needed in order to find a fixed answer for the emigration equation. Nonetheless, we know that emigration remains an uncertain journey, both for the families, as well as for the country itself.